Sunny Sweet Is So Not Scary

It looked like the whole night was off, and I didn’t know what was worse that I wasn’t having the sleepover or that I had to tell Alice that I wasn’t having the sleepover. Alice flipped out just like I knew she would. She said if I canceled the sleepover that her parents would probably never let her go to another one again because it had taken her a week to convince her mom and dad to let her go to this one. Her parents were mega nervous about Alice needing special stuff because of her spine problems from spina bifida.

But then Mrs. Song saved the day. She said she’d help out with the sleepover and spend the night at our house. Mrs. Song had been a nurse back in China, and that made Alice’s parents really happy.

“Okay,” I said, “we can watch Zombie Revolution, Creatures of the Mist, Soul Snatchers, or Dark Poltergeists.”

“I choose none of those,” Junchao cried. “They sound too scary.”

“That’s the point.” I giggled. But I secretly agreed with
Junchao. These movies did sound too scary. But this was what you
did at a sleepover. It was required.

Junchao yawned.

“No, no, you can’t be tired,” I yelled. “It’s way too early. We have to stay up all night.”

“All night?” asked Junchao. “As in, until my mom picks me up in the morning?”

“Yes, that’s the entire point of a sleepover… to stay up,” I told her.

“I’ve never done that before,” she said. “I don’t know if I can.” “Humans are able to stay awake for up to 264 hours, or approximately eleven days,” came a voice from behind the armchair. “Although you will show signs of progressive, and possibly significant, deficits in higher mental processes as the duration of sleep deprivation increases.” It was Sunny’s voice.

“Sunny!” I yelled. “Get out!”
I heard her scamper back to her room.

“Come on, you guys. We can do this,” I said.

“Then let’s choose Dark Poltergeists,” Alice suggested. “I heard it was super scary.”

“That’s the spirit.” I laughed. “Get it, spirit?”

“We get it,” laughed Alice.

“I don’t get it,” said Junchao.

“Anyway,” I said, “being scared will definitely keep us up.”